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Federal Finance Minister Lindner (FDP) at the G20 summit: Hope is followed by disappointment

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Britta Pedersen/dpa

The meeting of finance ministers and central bank heads from the 20 leading industrialized and emerging countries (G20) failed.

The group was unable to agree on a final paper with common goals, as Brazil, which hosted the meeting in São Paulo, confirmed on Thursday.

Instead, there should only be a summary of the talks by Brazil.

Contrary to what had been hoped in advance, geopolitical conflicts overshadowed the deliberations.

A G20 insider told the Reuters news agency that there had been no agreement on how to assess the wars in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip.

Brazil actually wanted to exclude these points and concentrate on purely economic policy issues.

However, western democracies such as Germany and the USA were against it.

Above all, they wanted to make it clearer that Russia's attack on Ukraine continues to place a heavy burden on the global economy.

Lindner had hope until the end

Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) had previously said that there was still hope that the G20 finance ministers would agree on a communiqué in which the geopolitical risks to economic growth were mentioned.

Lindner emphasized that, given the war against Ukraine, the terror of Hamas and the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, there could be no “business as usual”.

"All of this cannot leave us indifferent, all of this must be discussed here," he told reporters, adding that there was hope for a communiqué.

"A draft has been drawn up that reflects the demand that the geopolitical issues be discussed," he said.

But in the end it seems to have failed because of the wording.

The G7 wanted to call the Russian war of aggression the "war against Ukraine," while Russia wanted to call it the "war in Ukraine," two sources told Reuters.

The G7 countries also suggested describing the war in Gaza as a "humanitarian crisis" without mentioning Israel, according to Reuters sources.

Normally, after a G20 meeting, common assessments and goals are recorded in a communiqué.

Since the Ukraine war, talks have repeatedly stalled because Russia is also a member of the group.

Even at their meeting in India last year, the finance ministers were unable to agree on a common formulation.

czl/Reuters/dpa